


we're so close (yet so far away)

by bananas



Category: Cricket RPF
Genre: Cricket World Cup 2019, Gen, and a shit ton of metaphors, bangladesh cricket team, england cricket team - Freeform, kinda weirdly emotional, pakistan cricket team, sri lanka cricket team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 03:56:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19417981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bananas/pseuds/bananas
Summary: four different teams but only one dream-Cricket World Cup 2019





	we're so close (yet so far away)

**Author's Note:**

> so ive been itching to write something for the world cup and then this came about. i was originally gonna write smth about south africa but it made me too sad so i decided to write on my faves! anyway, enjoy this, tell me if its good, if u liked it or even if its complete shit n how i can make it better. 
> 
> happy world cup and may the best team win <3
> 
> reminder that this is my take on the events and is not necessarily all true

_Pakistan_

Wahab flinches as his right hand twinges, swollen inside his glove but he shakes it off and taps his bat on the ground. _This is it._ Rashid jogs forward, a fierce look in his eyes and Wahab stares back with the same steely determination. _This is it._ The balls flies through the air and it is almost reflex, the way Wahab kneels on the ground and swings his bat, like he’s been doing this every day since he was born, like this was something he had always known how to do, never taught, like his right hand wasn’t pulsating inside his glove, begging to be let free, begging to be healed before it was made to do more. The ball soars through the air and crashes into the stands but Wahab is too busy adjusting the glove around his broken hand to watch and it is the roar of the Pakistani fans that tells him he has brought them one step closer. And so there is no pain Wahab’s face as goes to meet Imad halfway down the pitch, just a small smile, as if this is no big deal, as if he hadn’t just brought his team inches closer to victory when a few overs ago, even the thought they might pull through seemed ridiculous. _This is it._

In the dressing room, Sarfaraz watches the match with hope and with fear. _This is it._ His teammates are alongside him and they all watch the last over start with bated breath. Sarfaraz swallows. The batsman run a single. He breathes. They run another off the next ball. He looks to the heavens. They get two. He thanks his God. They hit a four. Sarfaraz kneels down in prostration. They have won. _This is it._

-

_England_

Eoin grimaces as he stares ahead. There is a lose end of the practice nets caught under his shoe and he can feel the net stretching next to him, threatening to tear any second now. He doesn’t move, and continues to watch as on the left, Ben is swinging his bat and striking each ball with ease. The pads around Eoin’s calves are digging into his skin uncomfortably but he doesn’t move and continues to stare. Jonny is in the next net and he slices each ball perfectly. Joe is alongside him and he cuts the ball as if he was born to do it. Eoin feels sweat dripping down his brow even though the air conditioning is on full blast. He doesn’t wipe it and trickles down, landing somewhere on the green mat just as Jos sends the ball sailing across four nets. _This is it._

Confidence, Eoin once told himself, is the key. Confidence will win you matches. Confidence will keep your players in the form of their life. Confidence will make you the number one team in the world. Confidence keeps the critics at bay but only when you win. Confidence helps you cope with the comments of former cricketing greats when they bash you and insult you on the radio and social media and on television. Confidence keeps your hopes up and brings back your best players (hello again, Jason Roy). Confidence may even get you past a mighty fortress of a team, led by a mastermind and unbeaten in the tournament so far but will confidence win you the cup? He has yet to find out.

_-_

_Sri Lanka_

Uncertainty: the word of the year in the Sri Lankan camp. It wasn’t like this before, Lasith remembered, not when Mahela and Kumar were around, not when Murali was by his side; it was a recent addition to their vocabulary and Lasith had yet to grow fond of it. It is entertaining watching an uncertain team- Lasith knows that from years of watching Pakistan play- but when you yourself become uncertain- when you start winning impossible matches against number 1 ODI teams and start losing against those no one expects to lose against- it isn’t quite as entertaining.

He’s not complaining, however, because watching Sri Lanka come this far when every single one of the odds was stacked against them has been a dream come true and to know that he played a role, that he helped his country reach this point when everyone else doubted him and them, has reminded him of why he started play cricket and why he stayed all these years.

And so, despite the odds being stacked against them even now, Lasith closes his eyes and he fights another day. The India shaped obstacle ahead of them is not an easy one to cross but everyone had written Sri Lanka off before too so it is time now to prove them wrong once again. _This is it._

_-_

_Bangladesh_

Once upon a time, the British ruled the Indian subcontinent. Then came along Jinnah and Gandhi and the British were given the boot and Pakistan and India were born. The rest of the history is forgotten or, even better, forgettable, because who in the world of cricket remembers that Bangladesh was once a part of Pakistan? Who in the cricket world realizes that like the India-Pakistan rivalry, a similar Bangladesh-Pakistan one should exist by virtue of the fact that they, like India and Pakistan, were once one? Who in the cricket world calls in sick from work or skips university to watch Bangladesh face India or Pakistan? The Bangladesh cricket team are unimportant, ignored, forgettable, just like their country is perceived to be. 

And yet forgettable Bangladesh are anything but in this tournament. Forgettable Bangladesh defeated South Africa before their campaign didn’t look that hopeless. Forgettable Bangladesh almost defeated the formidable Australia. Forgettable Bangladesh defeated the West Indies comprehensively. Forgettable Bangladesh have, by far, the best batsman of the tournament and best all-rounder in the world. Forgettable Bangladesh have had enough of being ignored and pushed aside; they are making the world sit up and watch and, most importantly, remember who they are. Forgettable Bangladesh are not here to go home, but to become unforgettable.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading. stop by my tumblr and say hi if you want :)


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